What my musings are all about...

Blogging might well be the 21st century's form of journaling. As a writing teacher, I have always advised my students to keep a daily journal as a way of organizing their thoughts for future writing projects, a discipline I have unfortunately never consistently practiced myself. By blogging, I might finally be able to follow my own good advice.

The difference between journaling and blogging is that the blogger opens his or her writing to the public, something journal- writers are usually reluctant to do. I am not so reticent.

The trick for me will be to avoid cluttering the internet with more blather, something none of us need more of. If I stick to subjects I know: sports and literature, I believe I can avoid that pitfall. I can't promise that I'll not stray from time to time to comment on ancillary subjects, but I will make every attempt to be interesting and perhaps even insightful.

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

A Couple of Thoughts & a Few Questions

I saw on NBA Rumors that the Celtics are going to trade or release David Lee. How about this, as strange as it may seem: Why don't the Warriors take Lee back. He'd give them a hell of a lot more than Jason Thompson, and the Celts may be interested in Jason with one year left on his contract and him being younger and an East Coast guy. Probably best to let the Celts release David, then the Warriors can negotiate a more reasonable contract? Yes? No? Since I'm not knowledgeable about contracts and such, I don't know if this is feasible. Anyway, it would give David the chance to complete the circle, end his career with the Dubs. He did, lest people forget, do an admirable job off the bench in the Finals last season. Might be a classy thing to do.

I'm a huge Harrison Barnes supporter, so I'd hate to see him go in a sign and trade for Kevin Durant. It might be worth considering that more does not always equate to better. Okay, okay, I know it IS Durant. A Warrior team with Durant, Steph, Klay and Dray raining threes. Like the friggin Apocalypse.

Cam Newton may indeed be the quarterback of the future, but weren't the pundits saying the same thing about Colin Kepernick a while back? Remember the turtle and the hare tales.

As we approach March Madness, are there any clear leaders among among the college teams? Time to pick the underdogs, which will make for an interesting tourney.

Watched the Timberwolves lose to the Lakers and saw Kobe perform like the old Kobe. I take back what I said about him; even a few games like last night's, and he deserves to have his last All Star Game in the sun. Sorry Damian, you're up next year. As for the Timberwolves, they've got some solid young players to build into a championship team, but they need a coach that will get them to play defense on a regular basis. Tom Thibodeau comes to mind. There's something not right in my mind about Sam Mitchell, perhaps, a little too cool, a little too coach with a capital C. Just a gut reaction.

Is Terry Stotts of the Trail Blazers Coach of the Year? If the Blazers make the playoffs, he better be.

For Super Sunday coming up, how about a this football poem from my second book of poetry, Some Men.

Monday Morning QuarterbackYesterday's win with seconds on the clockmade going back to work easier even after weekswhen everything for him had turned to crap.They'd painted their faces green,put on their wigs, donned their yellow capes,circled their trucks like wagons heading west,roasted hotdogs.. The ice cold beer tasted bestwhen shared with family and friends, a smallphilosophy, but something he had learned to trust.The newspapers were full of war in some countryhe couldn't spell. The neighbor's son had fought there.They brought him back a week ago without a leg.A letter came that said his house was"upside down."Thank God he wasn't out of work, he'd told his wife.Thank God for Football. The game protected him from grief.What he could save of this crummy time, he foundevery Sunday in the stands with his high school pals,who stood beside him on the dwindling factory line.Half a Sunday without a worry. You think that's peanuts?We're all small-town when it comes to fears. He'd said that,he remembered, during a time out, coach challenging a callwhile the referee looked into the past to see what was right.

Thomas Meschery, a son of Russian immigrants, he became the first international player to play in an NBA All-Star Game in 1963.

An All-American success story. Born in China in 1938, he came to the U.S. with his parents after WW II. An All-American at Lowell High School, San Francisco, and St. Mary's College, Moraga, California. He was the youngest player to named a first team AAU All-American. NBA Star for ten seasons. Noted as one of the toughest players in the NBA. His jersey number has been retired by both St. Mary's and Golden State Warriors. Inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.

Tom has published two books of poetry, 'Over the Rim' and 'Nothing You Lose Can Be Replaced' and a fourth-coming book of verse, 'Some Men'. He was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame in 2000.